Vehicle provided, at the intake, with an air filter provided with a heating device

ABSTRACT

A vehicle provided with an engine, at least one air intake through which the engine takes in the external air needed to operate, and an air filter, which is arranged in the area of the air intake; the air filter comprises: at least one wave-shaped filtering material panel; an outer reinforcement mesh, an inner reinforcement mesh; and a heating device which is electrically connected to a group of electrified wires of the outer reinforcement mesh and is designed to cause an electric current to flow through said electrified wires, so as to generate heat, due to the Joule effect, on the inside of said outer reinforcement mesh.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED PATENT APPLICATIONS

This application is a U.S. National Phase Application under 35 U.S.C. §371 of International Patent Application No. PCT/IB2017/056541, filedOct. 20, 2017, which claims the priority of Italian Application No.102016000105840, filed Oct. 20, 2016, which is incorporated by referenceas if expressly set forth in its entirety herein.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to a vehicle provided, at the intake, withan air filter provided with a heating device.

The present invention can advantageously be applied to an aircraft(i.e., a man-made machine that is able to fly by gaining support fromthe air to transport persons or objects within the Earth's atmosphere)and in particular to a helicopter, to which the following disclosureexplicitly refers without any loss of generality.

PRIOR ART

Modern helicopters are usually provided with at least one turbine enginethat drives a rotor blade system which allows said helicopter to takeoff and land vertically, to hover and to fly laterally, backwards andforwards. The turbine engine has an air intake at the front, throughwhich the turbine engine takes in the external air needed for it tooperate (i.e., the external air containing the oxygen needed forcombustion).

Generally speaking, the air intake may comprise a metal grid with arelatively large mesh size (in the region of one or two centimetres) thepurpose of which is to prevent birds from getting in. Between the airintake and the turbine engine there may be an air filter with thefunction of filtering the air that is taken in, so as to hold back smallimpurities (dust and the like) which could, in the long term, lead topremature wear of the turbine engine.

The air filter can only be used when the ambient temperature is(adequately) above zero (on the ground and in the air), because thefiltering material is usually hygroscopic and so tends to absorbmoisture from the air: when the temperature falls to below zero themoisture in the filtering material freezes to form ice that creates a(more or less extensive) barrier through which the air is unable toenter (but the same problem would also arise with a non-hygroscopicfiltering material owing to the surface moisture that forms on theoutside surfaces of the filtering material or owing to the snow thatcould settle on the outside surface of the filtering material). As aconsequence, when the ambient temperature is close to or below zero theair filter cannot be used (in particular it is bypassed by opening oneor more bypass ducts arranged parallel to the air filter).Alternatively, it has been proposed to fit the air filter with a heatingdevice that is designed to keep the melting temperature of the filteringmaterial at a temperature (adequately) above zero; however, the knownheating devices are rather bulky and heavy (a very unfavourable defectin an aircraft) in that they direct the jets of hot air generated by acompressor towards the air filter.

Patent application WO9928011A1 describes a filtering device for thecooling circuit of an electric traction motor of a locomotive; thefiltering device comprises a multi-stage air filter through which thecooling air flows, at least one electric heating device for heating theair filter, and a sensor that measures the cooling air flow rate inorder to control the switching on or switching off of the electricheating device on the basis of the cooling air flow rate.

Patent application FR2594352A1 describes an air filter for the air takenin by an internal combustion engine of a vehicle; the air filter isprovided with an electric heating device which makes an electric currentflow through conductors sunk in a panel of corrugated filteringmaterial.

Patent application DE102007047403A1 describes an air filter that isinstalled in an air conditioning system to filter the air entering thepassenger compartment of a vehicle; the air filter is provided with anelectric heating device designed to heat the air filter to reduce thelevel of moisture in the air.

Patent application US2005109204A describes a filtering device forpurifying the air entering a closed environment; the filtering devicecomprises a filtering panel made of fibrous material and a conductiveelectrode that is sunk in the filtering panel and is coupled to anelectric potential in order to neutralize the electric charges thataccumulate in the fibrous material and so maintain the high filteringefficiency of said fibrous material.

Patent application WO9817368 describes an air filter used inair-conditioning systems; the air filter consists of a panel ofcorrugated filtering material that is enclosed between two outer metalgrills.

DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

The purpose of the present invention is to propose a vehicle provided,at the intake, with an air filter provided with a heating device, saidvehicle overcoming the drawbacks described above and, at the same time,being easy and inexpensive to produce.

According to the present invention there is provided a vehicle equipped,at the intake, with an air filter provided with a heating device, asclaimed in the appended claims.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS

The present invention will now be described with reference to theaccompanying drawings, which illustrate a non-limiting embodimentthereof, in which:

FIG. 1 is a perspective schematic view of a helicopter built accordingto the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a schematic cross-sectional view of an air box provided withan air filter and through which the air needed to operate a turbineengine of the helicopter shown in FIG. 1 is taken in;

FIG. 3 is a plan view of the air filter shown in FIG. 2;

FIG. 4 is a cross-sectional view along the line IV-IV of the air filtershown in FIG. 2;

FIG. 5 is an exploded cross-sectional view along the line IV-IV of theair filter shown in FIG. 2;

FIG. 6 is an enlarged scale view of a detail of FIGS. 4 and 5;

FIGS. 7 and 8 are schematic views of the electrical connections of anouter reinforcement mesh of the air filter shown in FIG. 2;

FIGS. 9, 10 and 11 are schematic views of the methods for implementingthe electrical connections of the outer reinforcement mesh of the airfilter shown in FIG. 2;

FIGS. 12 and 13 are schematic views of an alternative method forimplementing the electrical connections of the outer reinforcement meshof the air filter shown in FIG. 2;

FIG. 14 is a schematic view of part of an outer reinforcement mesh ofthe air filter shown in FIG. 2 according to an alternative embodiment;and

FIG. 15 is a schematic view of part of the air filter shown in FIG. 2coupled to a capacitive sensor.

PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS OF THE INVENTION

In FIG. 1 denoted as a whole by reference numeral 1 is a helicoptercomprising a turbine engine 2 that drives a rotor blade system whichenables said helicopter to take off and land vertically, to hover and tofly laterally, backwards and forwards.

The turbine engine 2 comprises a tubular housing 3 having, at the front,an air intake 4 (through which the turbine engine 2 takes in theexternal air needed for it to operate, i.e., the external air containingthe oxygen needed for combustion) and, at the back, an air outlet 5(through which the turbine engine 2 expels the exhaust gas produced bythe combustion process). In the area of the air intake 4 there is ametal grid 6 with a relatively large mesh size (in the region of one ortwo centimetres) the function of which is to prevent birds from gettingin.

As illustrated in FIG. 2, in the tubular housing 3 there is an air box 7which has, on the inside, a cavity with an inlet opening coupled to theair intake 4 of the tubular housing 3 and an outlet opening coupled toan intake system 8 of the turbine engine 2 (fresh air is conveyedthrough the intake system 8 towards the moving parts of the turbineengine 2 in which fuel combustion takes place using the air taken in asthe comburent air i.e., towards the combustion chamber of the turbineengine 2). Inside the cavity of the air box 7 there is an air filter 9which is interposed between the inlet opening and the outlet opening andthus divides the cavity into an intake chamber, which is arrangedupstream of the air filter 9 and communicates with the externalenvironment, and an outlet chamber, which is arranged downstream of theair filter 9 and communicates with the intake system of the turbineengine 2. The air filter 9 is arranged downstream of the air intake 4and has the function of filtering the intake air in order to withholdsmall impurities (dust and the like) which could, in the long term, leadto premature wear of the turbine engine 2.

The air filter 9 comprises a peripheral frame 10 (made of aluminium, ofplastic material or of a composite material) that supports a panel 11 offiltering material (for example consisting of a woven or non-wovenfabric made of cotton or other fibres enclosed between two layers of athin metal net which give shape and strength to said filteringmaterial). It is important to observe that the shape of the air filter 9as seen in a plan view may vary (for example round, rectangular,elliptical, triangular, trapezoidal or a combination of these) dependingon the shape of the tubular housing 2, i.e., depending on the shape ofthe air box 7 in which the air filter 9 is housed.

According to that illustrated in FIGS. 3-6, the air filter 9 comprisesthe peripheral frame 10 (made of aluminium, of a plastic material or ofa composite material) which supports the panel 11 of wave-shapedfiltering material (i.e., with a wave-shaped configuration to increasethe useful surface of filtering material without increasing the externaldimensions) which consists for example of a woven or non-woven fabricmade of cotton or other fibres. The air filter 9 comprises a thinpleated outer reinforcement mesh 12 and a thin pleated innerreinforcement mesh 13 which rest against opposite surfaces of thefiltering material panel 11 (i.e., enclosing the filtering materialpanel 11 between them) to give said filtering material panel 11 a stableshape and strength. In other words, the filtering material panel 11 iscovered on both sides by the reinforcement meshes 12 and 13 (i.e., it iscontained between the reinforcement meshes 12 and 13) which give saidfiltering material panel 11 a stable shape. It is important to observethat the reinforcement meshes 12 and 13 are dimensioned both to give thepanel 11 the required shape stability in order to withstand the airpressure without becoming deformed, even when the helicopter 1 travelsat high speed with a strong headwind, and so that it does not constitutetoo big an obstacle to the air flow (i.e., so as not to produce anexcessive loss of load in the intake air flowing through the air filter9).

The outer reinforcement mesh 12 rests against an outer surface of thefiltering material panel 11 through which the intake air enters to passthrough said filtering material panel 11; the inner reinforcement mesh13, instead, rests against an inner surface of the filtering materialpanel 11 which is opposite the outer surface. In other words, the outerreinforcement mesh 12 is arranged upstream of the filtering materialpanel 11 with respect to the intake air flow, whereas the innerreinforcement mesh 13 is arranged downstream of the filtering materialpanel 11 with respect to the intake air flow.

According to that illustrated in FIG. 6, both of the reinforcementmeshes 12 and 13 are made up of a plurality of warp wires 14 (i.e.,which make up the warp) and a plurality of weft wires 15 (i.e., whichmake up the weft); the warp wires 14 extend in a linear direction,whereas the weft wires 15 are fed through the shed of the warp wires 14by “winding” them around said warp wires 14. In other words, the weftwires 15 are interlaced with the warp wires 14 in such a way that thereinforcement meshes 12 and 13 are obtained by means of a weavingprocess (i.e., by interlacing the warp wires 14 with the weft wires 15).It is important to observe that the reinforcement meshes 12 and 13 haveno welding spots (i.e., the wires 14 and 15 are not welded to eachother) and are held together through the interlacing of the warp wires14 with the weft wires 15 (i.e., they are held together by weaving thewarp wires 14 with the weft wires 15). According to a possibleembodiment, once the reinforcement meshes 12 and 13 have been formed thereinforcement meshes 12 and 13 can be provided with a further coatingmade of enamel or paint which also has the function of joining the wires14 and 15 to one another (i.e., the further coating made of enamel orpaint is applied to the reinforcement meshes 12 and 13 after the weavingof said reinforcement meshes 12 and 13); in other words, the enamel orpaint coating that covers the reinforcement meshes 12 and/or 13establishes a mechanical coupling between the weft wires 14 and the warpwires 15 and thus contributes to holding the reinforcement mesh 12and/or 13 together in the correct position. Clearly, the enamel or paintcoating that covers the reinforcement mesh 12 and/or 13 also provides anadditional protection for the wires 14 and 15. By way of example, theenamel or paint coating could be applied by dipping the reinforcementmesh 12 and/or 13 in an enamel or paint bath.

To manufacture the air filter 9, the reinforcement meshes 12 and 13 andthe filtering material panel 11 are manufactured separately as flatpieces, then the reinforcement meshes 12 and 13 are placed on oppositesurfaces of the filtering material panel 11 to form a unit (i.e., a“sandwich”) which is also flat and is then bent in a wave shape to givesaid unit its final shape; lastly, said wave-shaped unit is coupled tothe peripheral frame 10 (usually by means of glue and/or resin) which,in addition to giving the air filter 9 a stable shape, also has thefunction of holding together the unit formed by the reinforcement meshes12 and 13 and the filtering material panel 11.

According to a possible (but by no means mandatory) embodimentillustrated in FIGS. 4 and 5, the air filter 9 further comprises a plane(flat) stiffening mesh 16 which is arranged internally and has thefunction of helping the wave-shaped filtering material panel 11 towithstand the stress caused by the pressure generated by the intake air,without being deformed; the function of the reinforcement stiffeningmesh 16 is more important in the case of air filters 9 with a largesurface.

According to that illustrated in FIGS. 7 and 8, the air filter 9comprises a heating device 17 which is designed to heat the filteringmaterial panel 11 (when necessary). In particular, the heating device 17is designed to cause an electric current I to flow through part of theouter reinforcement mesh 12 so as to generate heat by the Joule effecton the inside of said outer reinforcement mesh 12. The heat generated bythe outer reinforcement mesh 12 is transmitted to the filtering materialpanel 11 both directly by heat conduction (in that the outerreinforcement mesh 12 rests against an outer surface of the filteringmaterial panel 11), and indirectly by means of the intake air whichwarms up as it flows through the outer reinforcement mesh 12 and thenreleases heat to the filtering material panel 11 when it flows throughsaid filtering material panel 11.

According to a preferred embodiment illustrated in FIG. 6, each warpwire 14 and each weft wire 15 is provided with an outer insulation 18made of a material that is electrically insulating and, insofar aspossible, heat conducting; according to a preferred embodiment, theouter insulation 18 is made of enamel or paint with a thickness ofbetween 0.0005 mm and 0.08 mm.

According to a preferred embodiment illustrated in FIGS. 7 and 8, theheating device 17 causes the electric current I to circulate through alimited number of the wires 14 and 15 that make up the outerreinforcement mesh 12, i.e., only a limited number of the wires 14and/or 15 that make up the outer reinforcement mesh 12 are electrified(i.e., electrically connected to an electric voltage generator) in thatthe electric current I flows through them. Normally, it suffices to onlyapply the outer insulation 18 to the wires 14 and/or 15 that are to beelectrified (i.e., through which the electric current I flows) andtherefore to leave the wires 14 and/or 15 that are not electrified(i.e., through which the electric current I does not flow) without theouter insulation 18. Nonetheless, according to a preferred (but notbinding) embodiment, all the wires 14 and 15 are provided with the outerinsulation 18 regardless of whether or not they are electrified in orderto prevent a non-electrified wire 14 and/or 15 from causing a shortcircuit between electrified wires 14 and/or 15 if the outer insulation18 on said electrified wires 14 and/or 15 is damaged.

As mentioned previously, the outer reinforcement mesh 12 is made up of aplurality of warp wires 14 (i.e., which make up the warp) and aplurality of weft wires 15 (i.e., which make up the weft); the warpwires 14 extend in a linear direction, whereas the weft wires 15 are fedthrough the shed of the warp wires 14 (i.e., they are interlaced withthe warp wires 14) by “winding” them around said warp wires 14.According to a preferred (but non-limiting) embodiment, the heatingdevice 17 is designed to cause the electric current I to circulatethrough a group of electrified wires which are normally only the warpwires 14 or only the weft wires 15; in other words, the heating device17 is only electrically connected to the warp wires 14 or to the weftwires 15; however, according to an alternative embodiment, the heatingdevice 17 is electrically connected to both the warp wires 14 and to theweft wires 15 to cause the electric current I to circulate through warpwires 14 and weft wires 15. Preferably (but not necessarily), theelectrified wires are only the warp wires 14, in that the warp wires 14extend in a more linear manner and the outer insulation 18 is thussubject to less mechanical stress (therefore the outer insulation 18 isless likely to break locally owing to the bends). According to apreferred (but not mandatory) embodiment illustrated in FIGS. 7 and 8,all the warp wires 14 are electrified, i.e., the electric current Iflows through them all.

According to that illustrated in FIGS. 7 and 8, the heating device 17comprises a plurality of collectors 19 (i.e., of rectangular platesdesigned to electrically connect corresponding warp wires 14), each ofwhich is electrically connected to the ends of a group of warp wires 14so as to connect said warp wires 14 to one another and is electricallyinsulated (in particular physically separated) from the adjacentcollectors 19; in other words, between one collector 19 and the adjacentcollectors 19 there is an empty space 20 (a break, a hole, a separation)which determines an electric insulation (i.e., two adjacent collectors19 do not touch one another owing to the empty space 20 between them andare thus electrically insulated from one another). The collectors 19determine a parallel/series connection of the warp wires 14 (as betterillustrated in FIG. 8): the warp wires 14 are divided into a pluralityof groups of warp wires 14, within the same group of warp wires 14 allthe warp wires 14 are connected to one another in parallel (thanks totwo opposite collectors 19), and the different groups of warp wires 14are connected to one another in series (thanks to the fact that eachcollector 19 extends to the warp wires 14 of two adjacent groups, exceptfor the initial collector 19 and the final collector 19). All the groupsof warp wires 14 are made up of the same number of warp wires 14, whichcan generally range from five to fifty.

In other words, each collector 19 is merely a rectangular plate ofconductive metal material (for example copper or alternativelyaluminium) which electrically connects corresponding warp wires 14 (inthe case in which the warp wires 14 are electrified).

A power supply device 22 is connected to the ends 21 of the electriccircuit formed by the warp wires 14 connected in parallel/series by thecollectors 19 in order to apply a potential difference V whichdetermines the circulation of the electric current I. Generallyspeaking, the power supply device 22 receives electric energy from anelectric power bus of the helicopter 1 and is able to control the valueof the potential difference V applied at the ends 21 of the electriccircuit and thus to control the strength of the electric current I andthus the heat generated in the electrified wires 14 due to the Jouleeffect (it is important to observe that the potential difference Vapplied at the ends 21 of the electric circuit may be reduced inintensity and/or in time). Normally, the electric power bus of thehelicopter 1 supplies alternating electric voltage at 110 Volts. It isimportant to observe that the power supply device 22 could also be anordinary switch (electronically controlled) that is closed to connectthe ends 21 of the electric circuit to the electric power bus of thehelicopter 1.

The method of connecting the warp wires 14 in parallel/series has twoadvantages. First, the method for connecting the warp wires 14 inparallel/series makes it possible to obtain an overall electricalresistance at the ends 21 of the electric circuit consisting of the warpwires 14 with a value that is ideal in order to obtain the necessaryheating power without the need for an electric current I that is toostrong. Furthermore, the method for connecting the warp wires 14 inparallel/series makes it possible to obtain a “robust” electric circuitcapable of operating properly even in the case of breakage(interruption) of some of the warp wires 14.

As mentioned previously, the wires 14 and 15 are provided with an outerinsulation 18 made of an electrically insulating and preferably heatconductive material to prevent the warp wires 14 from being electricallyconnected to one another by the weft wires 15 with a subsequentreduction (which could even be very significant) of the overallelectrical resistance.

According to a preferred (but not mandatory) embodiment, the warp wires14 that are electrified (i.e., those through which the electric currentI flows) are made of a first material that is different from a secondmaterial used to make the non-electrified weft wires 15 (i.e., thosethrough which the electric current I does not flow) and has a higherresistivity than the second material. For example, the electrified warpwires 14 may be made of constantan (a binary alloy made of 60% copperand 40% nickel) which, at room temperature, has a resistivity ofapproximately 4.9×10⁻⁷ Ω/m or they may be made of nickel-chrome (abinary alloy containing 80% nickel and 20% chrome) which, at roomtemperature, has a resistivity of approximately 108×10⁻⁷ Ω/m; thenon-electrified weft wires 15, on the other hand, may be made of steelwhich, at room temperature, has a resistivity of approximately1.1-1.8×10⁻⁷ Ω/m or of aluminium which, at room temperature, has aresistivity of approximately 2.8×10⁻⁷ Ω/m or of copper which, at roomtemperature, has a resistivity of approximately 1.68×10⁻⁷ Ω/m.

The use of a material with a relatively high resistivity for theelectrified warp wires 14 makes it possible to obtain an overallelectrical resistance at the ends 21 of the electric circuit formed bythe warp wires 14 with a value that is ideal for obtaining the necessaryheating power without the need for an electric current I that is toohigh.

Furthermore, the use of a material in which the resistivity varieslittle when the temperature changes (as in the case of constantan) forthe electrified warp wires 14 prevents localised differences in thetemperature of the warp wires 14 from determining significant localiseddifferences in the electrical resistance and thus from significantlyaltering the circulation of the electric current I.

It is important to observe that the overall electrical resistance at theends 21 of the electric circuit formed by the warp wires 14 must berelatively high (in the region of tens of Ohms) to prevent the voltagedifference V applied by the power supply device 22 from being too smalland, thus, the electric current I from being too high. Devices 17capable of generating with good accuracy a potential difference V in theregion of a few tens or a few hundreds of Volts while supplying electriccurrents I that are not too high (in the region of several tens ofAmperes at the most) are, in fact, available on the market; heatingdevices 17 capable of generating a potential difference V in the regionof only a few Volts while delivering very high electric currents I (evenhundreds of Amperes) are, instead, hard to find (and thus expensive). Itis therefore important to make sure that the overall electricalresistance at the ends 21 of the electric circuit formed by the warpwires 14 is high enough to enable the use of a heating device 17 that isreadily available on the market; this result is achieved by choosing amaterial with high electrical resistivity for the electrified warp wires14 and by choosing the type of connection of the warp wires 14 to theheating device 17; the dimensions (length and section) of theelectrified warp wires 14 are, instead, substantially dictated by thesize of the air filter 9 and by the mechanical/pneumatic dimensioning(i.e., by the need to achieve the necessary mechanical strength withoutexcessively penalising the intake air flow).

Furthermore, the overall electrical resistance at the ends 21 of theelectric circuit formed by the warp wires 14 must be relatively high (inthe region of tens of Ohms) to prevent the intensity of the electriccurrent I from being too high, as a high intensity electric current Irequires the use of cables and connection terminals with a largecross-section and which are thus heavy and bulky.

If the available electric power supply is a single-phase system, asingle electric circuit is usually (but not necessarily) obtained in thewarp wires 14 throughout the entire outer reinforcement mesh 12. If theelectric power supply is a three-phase system (as is normally the casewith commercial helicopters), three separate electric circuits (i.e.,electrically insulated from one another) are formed in the warp wires 14and may be in connected in a star configuration (in which case theresistance of each single electric circuit is for example approximately20 Ohms) or they may be connected in a delta configuration (in whichcase the resistance of each single electric circuit is for exampleapproximately 50 Ohms).

According to a preferred embodiment, the heating device 17 performsfeedback control of the potential difference V applied by the powersupply device 22 (i.e., the electric current I that flows through theelectrified warp wires 14) using the actual temperature of the filteringmaterial panel 11 as the feedback variable and so as to follow a desiredtemperature of the material panel 11. To perform said feedback controlthe heating device 17 must determine the actual temperature of thefiltering material panel 11 in real-time; according to a possibleembodiment, a temperature sensor is coupled to the filtering materialpanel 11 and may be sunk in the filtering material panel 11 or may reston the outer or inner surface of the filtering material panel 11.Alternatively, the heating device 17 estimates the actual temperature ofthe filtering material panel 11 on the basis of the actual temperatureof the electrified warp wires 14, i.e., the heating device 17 determinesthe actual temperature of the electrified warp wires 14 and estimatesthe actual temperature of the filtering material panel 11 on the basisof the actual temperature of the electrified warp wires 14; for example,the heating device 17 determines the actual electrical resistance of theelectrified warp wires 14 through which the electric current I flows anddetermines the actual temperature of the electrified warp wires 14 onthe basis of the actual electrical resistance of the electrified warpwires 14 (using the known existing relationship between the electricalresistivity of a conductor and the corresponding temperature).

The heating device 17 may be activated automatically on the basis of theactual temperature of the filtering material panel 11 or manually by thepilot of the helicopter 1.

According to a preferred embodiment, the heating device 17 (which alsocomprises, on the inside, all the related control electronics, and thusalso the power supply device 22) is integrally fixed to the peripheralframe 6 in such a way that the air filter 9 and the heating device 17form a single compact unit that can be assembled/disassembled quickly.

With reference to FIGS. 9, 10 and 11, a particularly effective andefficient method for manufacturing the electrified outer reinforcementmesh 12, i.e., with the warp wires 14 electrically connected to thepower supply device 22 so that, when necessary, the electric current Ican flow through them, will now be disclosed.

First, as illustrated in FIG. 9, the outer reinforcement mesh 12 ismanufactured by interlacing the warp wires 14 (made for example ofconstantan and externally provided with the outer insulation 18) withthe weft wires 15 (made for example of aluminium and externally providedwith the outer insulation 18). Clearly, the wires 14 and 15 are providedwith the outer insulation 18 before being interlaced and using entirelyconventional processes (with a low production cost since these arewidely used in the sector of electrical windings).

Next, and as illustrated in FIG. 10, two strips 23 of conductive metalmaterial (such as aluminium or copper) are placed at the opposite endsof the outer reinforcement mesh 12 and in the area of the ends of thewarp wires 14 and are welded to the ends of the warp wires 14 using weldmaterial; in particular, welding is performed using a low-melting weldmaterial 24 (typically tin or a tin alloy) which is interposed betweenthe ends of the warp wires 14 and the strips 23. The weld material 24 ismixed with flux and the melting temperature of the weld material 24 ishigher than the melting temperature of the outer insulation 18; as aconsequence, the melted weld material 24 locally melts the outerinsulation 18 (the melted outer insulation 18 is discharged by the fluxmixed with the weld material 24) to bare the ends of the warp wires 14and making it possible to obtain a high quality electrical connectionbetween the ends of the warp wires 14 and the strips 23. Alternatively,the ends of the warp wires 14 can be bared beforehand by locallyremoving the outer insulation 18 (for example by means of a thermal,mechanical and/or chemical process) before welding the ends of the warpwires 14 to the strips 23. At this point, the two strips 23 connect allthe warp wires 14 to one another in parallel, i.e., they create aparallel connection of all the warp wires 14.

According to a preferred but non-limiting embodiment, continuous stripsof weld material 24 are used, each of which is interposed between astrip of conductive metal material 23 and the corresponding ends of thewarp wires 14. In other words, for the sake of convenience andsimplicity the weld material 24 is in the form of strips (just like thestrips of conductive metal material 23) so that the weld material 24 canbe applied easily and more quickly.

Preferably, the welding of the strips 23 of conductive metal material tothe ends of the warp wires 14 through the interposition of the weldmaterial 24 is performed by placing the outer reinforcement mesh 12(provided, of course, with the strips 23 and with the weld material 24)in a furnace that reaches a temperature that is higher than the meltingtemperature of the weld material 24; preferably inside the furnace theouter reinforcement mesh 12 is subjected to a constant and calibratedpressure (at least in the area of the strips 23) to guarantee goodwelding results between the strips 23 and the ends of the warp wires 14.

Next, and as illustrated in FIG. 10, each strip 23 is cut (for exampleusing a mechanical cutting process) by means of through cuts parallel tothe warp wires 14 so as to create the spaces 20 (which are parallel tothe warp wires 14) and hence obtain from the strip 23 a succession ofcollectors 19 that are separate from one another (and thus electricallyinsulated from one another). This mechanical process is commonplace,economical and can be performed very quickly with a high level ofprecision.

According to a preferred embodiment, the collectors 19 are applied tothe outer reinforcement mesh 12 before applying any further enamel orpaint coating to said outer reinforcement mesh 12. Alternatively, thecollectors 19 could also be applied to the outer reinforcement mesh 12after applying any further enamel or paint coating to said outerreinforcement mesh 12.

According to an alternative embodiment illustrated in FIGS. 12 and 13,instead of resting two strips 23 of metal material from which the twosuccessions of electrically insulated collectors 19 are subsequentlyobtained against the opposite ends of the outer reinforcement mesh 12and in the area of the ends of the warp wires 14, two successions ofcollectors 19 electrically insulated from one another can be placedagainst the opposite ends of the outer reinforcement mesh 12 and in thearea of the ends of the warp wires 14 (i.e., the electrical insulationbetween the collectors 19 is created beforehand in the two strips 23 ofmetal material).

According to a preferred embodiment, each succession of collectors 19 isborne by a supporting strip 19A made of electrically insulating plasticmaterial and is placed at one end of the outer reinforcement mesh 12along with the supporting strip 19A. By way of example, each supportingstrip 19A could be made of Kapton® (a polyimide film developed byDuPont® and used, among other things, in flexible printed circuits). Itis important to observe that when the weld material 24 in the area ofthe empty spaces 20 (i.e., which only comes into contact with thesupport strip 19A) is heated to melting point it does not create anyconnection in the area of the empty spaces 20 but “migrates”spontaneously towards the nearest collectors 19.

Summing up, in the manufacture of the electrified outer reinforcementmesh 12, two successions of collectors 19 are placed on the oppositeends of the outer reinforcement mesh 12 and in the area of the ends ofthe warp wires 14. Said successions of collectors 19 may have beencompleted beforehand (i.e., with the empty spaces 20 already formed andso borne by corresponding supporting strips 19A) or they may becompleted at a later stage (i.e., the empty spaces 20 may be formedlater on). In the embodiments described previously, the warp wires 14 ofthe outer reinforcement mesh 12 are electrified (i.e., the electriccurrent I can flow through them), they are made of a first metalmaterial, preferably constantan, and are externally coated with an outerinsulation 18 made of an electrically insulating material(alternatively, the weft wires 15 could be electrified instead of thewarp wires 14). The weft wires 15, instead, are not electrified (i.e.,the electric current I cannot flow through them), they are made of asecond metal material, preferably steel, aluminium or copper, differentfrom the first metal material, and are also externally coated with anouter insulation 18 made of an electrically insulating material.

In the alternative embodiment illustrated in FIG. 14, the warp wires 14of the outer reinforcement mesh 12 are electrified (i.e., the electriccurrent can flow through them), they are made of a first metal material,preferably constantan, and are externally coated with an outerinsulation 18 made of an electrically insulating material (also in thiscase, alternatively the weft wires 15 could be electrified instead ofthe warp wires 14). The weft wires 15, instead, are not electrified(i.e., the electric current I cannot flow through them), some are madeof a plastic material that is not electrically conductive (denoted byreference numeral 15 a in FIG. 14) and the rest are made of a secondmetal material (denoted by reference numeral 15 b in FIG. 14),preferably copper, different from the first metal material, and are alsoexternally coated with an outer insulation 18 made of an electricallyinsulating material. Preferably, the weft wires 15 a made of the plasticmaterial alternate with the weft wires 15 b made of the second metalmaterial (and externally coated with an outer insulation 18 made of anelectrically insulating material). Furthermore, preferably, the weftwires 15 a made of the plastic material are more numerous than the weftwires 15 b made of the second metal material (for example with a ratioof 3-8 to 1). In the example illustrated in FIG. 14, the weft wires 15are not electrified (i.e., the electric current I cannot flow throughthem) and comprise groups of four (alternatively of between three andeight) wires 15 a made of the plastic material which alternate with asingle weft wire 15 b made of the second metal material.

According to a further embodiment that is not illustrated, the warpwires 14 of the outer reinforcement mesh 12 are electrified (i.e., theelectric current can flow through them), they are made of a metalmaterial, preferably constantan, and are externally coated with an outerinsulation 18 made of an electrically insulating material (also in thiscase, alternatively the weft wires 15 could be electrified instead ofthe warp wires 14). The weft wires 15, instead, are not electrified(i.e., the electric current I cannot flow through them) and are all madeof a plastic material that is not electrically conductive.

Clearly, the ideal situation from an electrical perspective (i.e., interms of the electrical insulation) is that the non-electrified weftwires 15 are all made of a plastic material that is not electricallyconductive; however, this situation is not so ideal from a mechanicalperspective (i.e., in terms of the mechanical strength of the outer mesh12) and therefore, between the wires 15 a made of the plastic material,it is useful to have some weft wires 15 b that are made of a metalmaterial (preferably copper since this is more ductile than steel andmore resistant to fatigue than steel at low temperatures, i.e., attemperatures of around zero degrees centigrade). Clearly, the weft wires15 b made of metal material should preferably be externally coated withan outer insulation 18 made of an electrically insulating material.

According to a possible embodiment illustrated in FIG. 12, there is acapacitive sensor 25 of a type known in the prior art which is designedto measure the capacitance between the two reinforcement meshes 12 and13 (capacitance is a scalar physical quantity that describes the abilityof a conductor body to increase its electric potential when it issupplied with an electric charge i.e., it measures its capacity forstoring an electric charge). The capacitive sensor 25 communicates witha processing device 26 which determines a characteristic of thefiltering material panel 11 based (also) on the capacitance between thetwo reinforcement meshes 12 and 13 measured by the capacitive sensor 25.

Preferably, the processing device 26 determines a percentage moisturecontent of the filtering material panel 11, a rate at which the airflows through the filtering material panel 11, and/or a level ofclogging of the filtering material panel 11 on the basis of thecapacitance between the two reinforcement meshes 12 and 13; clearly, theprocessing device 26 can determine all three of the aforesaidcharacteristics of the filtering material panel 11, it can determine twoof the three aforesaid characteristics of the filtering material panel11, or it can determine just one of the three aforesaid characteristicsof the filtering material panel 11.

When the rate at which the air flows through the filtering materialpanel 11 changes, so too does the ability of the filtering materialpanel 11 to store electric charge and, as a consequence, the capacitancebetween the two reinforcement meshes 12 and 13 changes; therefore it isexperimentally possible to determine a map that associates each value ofthe capacitance between the two reinforcement meshes 12 and 13 with acorresponding value of the rate at which the air flows through thefiltering material panel 11. The rate at which the air flows through thefiltering material panel 11 varies over short periods of time (even overjust a few seconds), therefore the short-term change in the capacitancebetween the two reinforcement meshes 12 and 13 is used to determine thechange in the rate at which the air flows through the filtering materialpanel 11. According to a preferred embodiment, the rate at which the airflows through the filtering material panel 11 is also determined on thebasis of the speed of rotation of the turbine engine 2 by correlatingthe change in the capacitance between the two reinforcement meshes 12and 13 with the change in the speed of rotation of the turbine engine 2.

When the moisture content of the filtering material panel 11 changes, sotoo does the ability of the filtering material panel 11 to storeelectric charge and, as a consequence, the capacitance between the tworeinforcement meshes 12 and 13 changes; therefore it is experimentallypossible to determine a map that associates each value of thecapacitance between the two reinforcement meshes 12 and 13 with acorresponding moisture level of the filtering material panel 11.According to a preferred embodiment, the moisture content of thefiltering material panel 11 is also determined on the basis of thetemperature of the filtering material panel 11.

When the level of clogging of the filtering material panel 11 (i.e., theamount of foreign matter trapped in the filtering material panel 11)changes, so too does the ability of the filtering material panel 11 tostore electric charge and, as a consequence, the capacitance between thetwo reinforcement meshes 12 and 13 changes; therefore it isexperimentally possible to determine a map that associates each value ofthe capacitance between the two reinforcement meshes 12 and 13 with acorresponding level of clogging of the filtering material panel 11. Thelevel of clogging of the filtering material panel 11 increases over arelatively long time (after several hours or several days of use),therefore the long-term change in the capacitance between the tworeinforcement meshes 12 and 13 is used to determine the change in thelevel of clogging of the filtering material panel 11.

In the embodiment illustrated in the accompanying Figures, the airfilter 9 comprises the outer reinforcement mesh 12 and the innerreinforcement mesh 13; according to alternative embodiments that are notillustrated, the air filter 9 could comprise the outer reinforcementmesh 12 only, the reinforcement mesh 13 only, a central reinforcementmesh only (sunk in the filtering material panel 11) or the centralreinforcement mesh in addition to the reinforcement meshes 12 and 13;preferably only the central reinforcement mesh is electrified (ifpresent, of course) or only the outer reinforcement mesh 12 (if there isno central reinforcement mesh). Generally speaking, electrifying theinner reinforcement mesh 13 is not advisable, as the inner reinforcementmesh 13 could only heat the filtering material panel 11 directly by heatconduction and not indirectly by means of the intake air (which onlypasses through the inner reinforcement mesh 13 after passing through thefiltering material panel 11).

In the embodiment illustrated in the accompanying Figures, the airfilter 9 has a flat, practically rectangular shape (and as a consequencethe filtering panel 11 also has the same shape), but the air filter 9(and thus the filtering panel 11) could clearly be of any other shape toadapt to the shape of the air intake; by way of example, the air filter9 (and thus the filtering panel 11) could have a flat circular orelliptical shape, a cylindrical shape, a cone shape, a truncated-coneshape, etc.

The embodiment illustrated by way of example in the accompanying Figuresrefers to a helicopter 1, but the present invention may also beadvantageously used in any type of aircraft or other vehicle, includingroad vehicles provided with an engine which must suck in air from theoutside in order to operate (for example an off-road or all-terrainvehicle required to operate in extremely cold regions).

Numerous advantages are achieved with the helicopter 1 described above.

First, the helicopter 1 described above comprises an air filter 9provided with a heating device 17 that is extremely effective andefficient (i.e., it is able to heat the filtering material panel 11 veryeffectively and efficiently) in that it is coupled to the filteringmaterial panel 11 both directly (i.e., the heat generated by the heatingdevice 17 reaches the filtering material panel 11 directly), and in adistributed manner (i.e., the heat generated by the heating device 17reaches the entire surface of the filtering material panel 11 in a veryuniform manner).

Moreover, the helicopter 1 described above comprises an air filter 9provided with a heating device 17 that is particularly economical,lightweight and compact in that it exploits an element (the outerreinforcement mesh 12) that is already present in the air filter 9.

Lastly, the helicopter 1 described above comprises an air filter 9 thatis able to determine in a sufficiently precise manner the condition(level of clogging) of the filtering material panel 11, the moisturecontent of the filtering material panel 11, and/or the rate at which theair flows through the filtering material panel 11, thanks to themeasurement of the capacitance between the two reinforcement meshes 12and 13.

1) A vehicle (1) provided with an engine (2), at least one air intake(4) through which the engine (2) takes in the external air needed tooperate, and an air filter (9), which is arranged downstream of the airintake (4); the air filter (9) comprises: at least one wave-shapedfiltering material panel (11); an outer reinforcement mesh (12), whichis pleated, is made up of a plurality of weft wires (15) and a pluralityof warp wires (14) interlaced with one another, and rests against anouter surface of the filtering material panel (11), through which theair taken in enters so as to flow through said filtering material panel(11); an inner reinforcement mesh (13), which is pleated, is made up ofa plurality of weft wires (15) and a plurality of warp wires (14)interlaced with one another, and rests against an inner surface of thefiltering material panel (11), which is opposite the outer surface; anda heating device (17), which is designed to heat the filtering materialpanel (11); wherein the heating device (17) is electrically connected toa group of electrified wires of the outer reinforcement mesh (12) and isdesigned to cause an electric current (I) to flow through saidelectrified wires, so as to generate heat, due to the Joule effect, onthe inside of said outer reinforcement mesh (12); and wherein theelectrified wires are externally coated with an outer insulation (18)made of an electrically insulating material. 2) A vehicle (1) accordingto claim 1, wherein the heating device (17) is designed to cause theelectric current (I) to circulate only through the warp wires (14) oronly through the weft wires (15). 3) A vehicle (1) according to claim 2,wherein the heating device (17) is designed to cause the electriccurrent (I) to circulate only through the warp wires (14). 4) A vehicle(1) according to claim 2, wherein at least some of the weft wires (15)or the warp wires (14) through which the heating device (17) does notcause the electric current (I) to circulate, i.e., the non-electrifiedwires, are made of a plastic material that is not electricallyconductive. 5) A vehicle (1) according to claim 4, wherein some of theweft wires (15) or the warp wires (14) through which the heating device(17) does not cause the electric current (I) to circulate, i.e., thenon-electrified wires, are made of the plastic material that is notelectrically conductive and the remainder are made of a first metalmaterial, preferably copper. 6) A vehicle (1) according to claim 5,wherein the weft wires (15) or the warp wires (14) through which theheating device (17) does not cause the electric current (I) tocirculate, i.e., the non-electrified wires, comprise groups of wires (15a), preferably groups of between three and eight wires (15 a), made ofthe plastic material, that alternate with at least one wire (15; 14),preferably with a single wire (15 b), made of the first metal material.7) A vehicle (1) according to claim 5, wherein the weft wires (15) orthe warp wires (14) through which the heating device (17) causes theelectric current (I) to circulate, i.e., the electrified wires, are allmade of a second metal material, preferably constantan, different fromthe first metal material, preferably copper, of which some weft wires(15) or warp wires (14) through which the heating device (17) does notcause the electric current (I) to flow, i.e., the non-electrified wires,are made. 8) A vehicle (1) according to claim 2, wherein the heatingdevice (17) comprises a plurality of collectors (19), each of which iselectrically connected to the ends of a group of warp wires (14) or ofweft wires (15) that are electrified, so as to connect the warp wires(14) or the weft wires (15) to one another, and is electricallyinsulated from the adjacent collectors (19). 9) A vehicle (1) accordingto claim 8, wherein the collectors (19) determine a partly parallel andpartly series connection of the electrified wires (14; 15): theelectrified wires (14; 15) are divided into a plurality of groups ofelectrified wires (14; 15), each consisting of the same number ofelectrified wires (14; 15); within the same group of electrified wires(14; 15), all the electrified wires (14; 15) are connected to oneanother in parallel thanks to two opposite collectors (19); and thedifferent groups of electrified wires (14; 15) are connected to oneanother in series thanks to the fact that each collector (19) extends tothe electrified wires (14; 15) of two adjacent groups, except for theinitial collector (19) and the final collector (19). 10) A vehicle (1)according to claim 9, wherein between each collector (19) and theadjacent collectors (19) there is an empty space (20), which determinesan electrical insulation. 11) A vehicle (1) according to claim 1,wherein the non-electrified wires (15) are made up of a first material,which is different from a second material making up the electrifiedwires (14). 12) A vehicle (1) according to claim 1 and comprising an airbox (7), which has, on the inside, a cavity, which houses the air filter(9) and has an inlet opening coupled to the air intake (4) and an outletopening coupled to an intake system (8) of the engine (2). 13) A vehicle(1) according to claim 1, wherein the reinforcement meshes (12, 13) donot have welding spots and are held together through the interlacing ofthe warp wires (14) with the weft wires (15). 14) A vehicle (1)according to claim 1, wherein the reinforcement meshes (12, 13) areprovided with a further coating made of enamel or paint, which isapplied to the reinforcement meshes (12, 13) after the weaving of saidreinforcement meshes (12, 13). 15) A vehicle (1) according to claim 1,wherein the outer insulation (18) has a thickness ranging from 0.0005 mmto 0.08 mm. 16) A vehicle (1) according to claim 1, wherein all thewires (14, 15) of the outer reinforcement mesh (12) made of anelectrically conductive metal material are provided with the outerinsulation (18) regardless of whether or not they are electrified. 17)An air filter (9) designed to be installed in a vehicle (1) according toclaim 1 and comprising: at least one wave-shaped filtering materialpanel (11); an outer reinforcement mesh (12), which is pleated, is madeup of a plurality of weft wires (15) and a plurality of warp wires (14)interlaced with one another, and rests against an outer surface of thefiltering material panel (11), through which the air taken in enters soas to flow through said filtering material panel (11); an innerreinforcement mesh (13), which is pleated, is made up of a plurality ofweft wires (15) and a plurality of warp wires (14) interlaced with oneanother, and rests against an inner surface of the filtering materialpanel (11), which is opposite the outer surface; and a heating device(17), which is designed to heat the filtering material panel (11);wherein the heating device (17) is electrically connected to a group ofelectrified wires of the outer reinforcement mesh (12) and is designedto cause an electric current (I) to flow through said electrified wires,so as to generate heat, due to the Joule effect, on the inside of saidouter reinforcement mesh (12); and wherein the electrified wires areexternally coated with an outer insulation (18) made of an electricallyinsulating material. 18) A method for manufacturing an electrified airfilter (9) for an intake system (8) of an engine (2) of a vehicle (1);the manufacturing method comprises the steps of: manufacturing an outerreinforcement mesh (12), which is made up of a plurality of weft wires(15) and a plurality of warp wires (14) interlaced with one another;manufacturing an inner reinforcement mesh (13), which is made up of aplurality of weft wires (15) and a plurality of warp wires (14)interlaced with one another; manufacturing a filtering material panel(11); placing the reinforcement meshes (12, 13) on opposite surfaces ofthe filtering material panel (11), so as to form a unit; bending in awave shape the unit made up of the filtering material panel (11)enclosed between the reinforcement meshes (12, 13); coupling aperipheral frame (10) to the wave-shaped unit made up of the filteringmaterial panel (11) enclosed between the reinforcement meshes (12, 13);before manufacturing the outer reinforcement mesh (12), externallycoating the warp wires (14) or the weft wires (15) of said outerreinforcement mesh (12) with an outer insulation (18) made of anelectrically insulating material; placing two successions of collectors(19) electrically insulated from one another at the opposite ends of theouter reinforcement mesh (12) and in the area of the ends of the warpwires (14) or of the weft wires (15); and welding each collector (19) tothe ends of the corresponding warp wires (14) or weft wires (15).